


Next Day Delivery

by Nestra, shrift



Series: Last Minute Trade [2]
Category: Sports Night
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-10-09
Updated: 2001-10-09
Packaged: 2017-10-04 00:10:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nestra/pseuds/Nestra, https://archiveofourown.org/users/shrift/pseuds/shrift
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Evasive maneuvers, next-day jitters, and sex. A lot of sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next Day Delivery

Dan awoke to the feel of warm, wet lips skating across his stomach. A touch of tongue. A sucking kiss just above his navel.

And stubble.

Casey.

He managed to moan and yawn simultaneously, while his hand curved across the back of Casey's head. Casey turned to look up at him, and the content expression on Casey's face reached inside Dan and grabbed hold of something important.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning." Casey's voice was deep with early-morning huskiness, and Dan began making obscene plans.

Plans that involved Casey's hands and mouth, because Dan felt the urge to...celebrate. It wasn't every morning that a guy got to wake up in bed with his best friend. His very attractive, very male, and very aroused best friend who was busy sucking at Dan's stomach again.

"God, that feels good," Dan said.

"Good. It's supposed to feel good." Casey smiled the smile that had gotten them into so much trouble last night and wrapped a gentle hand around Dan's cock. "And how does that feel?"

Dan arched into the maddeningly light touch. "Not as good as it should."

Casey frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's supposed to mean," Dan said, wrapping his own hand around Casey's, "that I want you to move your hand, Casey." His fingers tightened around Casey's, and together they squeezed the base of Dan's cock. He sighed in appreciation and guided Casey's hand in a strong pull.

Casey's face was rapt, watching their hands move together. "I like what that means."

"It means good things."

"Very good things," Casey agreed. Dan could feel Casey's erection pressed into his leg, and as Casey got more and more into it, his hips started twitching. Little, short movements that rubbed his cock against Dan.

Casey was still watching their hands, pulling up and down, tightening around Dan's cock, and Dan couldn't resist slipping his other hand from Casey's head down to his mouth. He ran his thumb over the seam of Casey's lips and was caught in a moment of pure lust when Casey opened his mouth and sucked on Dan's thumb. He shivered a little at the combination of wet mouth, warm hands, hard cock.

And Casey just looked debauched, his hair rumpled from sleep, mouth swollen. His skin was flushed. Dan could see his handiwork on Casey's neck, in ragged red and purple.

Horny Casey was by far Dan's favorite person in the universe. Horny Casey had a tendency to do unexpected things. Like last night, when he'd yanked Dan's pants down and given him an unpracticed but thorough blow job.

He tightened his hand even more around Casey's and sped up the rhythm. They were both panting, shallow gasps in tandem with the joint movement of their hands and the press of Casey's hips against his lower body. Coordination, Dan thought fuzzily, is a wonderful thing.

It only made sense that they would be coordinated at this, too. Dan and Casey wrote better together, did the show better together. And now it looked like they fucked better together.

Partnership was a beautiful thing.

Casey's turned-on face was a beautiful thing.

The whole fucking thing was beautiful.

Casey caught him by surprise when he lowered his mouth to Dan's cock, slipping his mouth around it until his lips touched their fingers. Dan's head fell back into his pillow, and he groaned warningly. "Casey, you keep that up and I'll be coming..."

Casey pulled his head back just enough so that his lips still brushed over Dan's cock when he said, "I think coming is the goal of this exercise, Danny."

Dan choked back a laugh and resisted the urge to yank Casey's head back down so he could shove his dick back into Casey's mouth. Casey rewarded his restraint by replacing his mouth and swirling his tongue around the tip of Dan's cock.

Before he completely lost his mind, Dan made one more attempt. "I...I just thought it would be nice if you came, too."

Casey pulled back his head yet again. "Oh, I will. Believe me. Now shut up."

"Shutting up," Dan said. He gasped when Casey's mouth closed over his cock again and sucked hard. Dan writhed underneath Casey's body, cupping his free hand around the nape of Casey's neck. "Oh, god, Case. That's...oh, god."

Dan had tried. Really he had. It didn't seem quite fair that he got to come first, again, but he had absolutely no energy left to argue. And really, who was stupid enough to argue himself out of a blow job?

Not Dan. Not Dan the Happy Guy.

Close, now, so close..."So close, Case..." he moaned, and Casey responded by sucking him harder and deeper, and Dan lost it. A toe-curling, girly-screaming, my-brains-are-coming-out-my-dick orgasm.

Coming in Casey's mouth had to be pretty close to heaven.

It was wet, warm, and most importantly, Casey.

Casey laughed softly. Dan opened his eyes and peered at him. Casey's head was on Dan's stomach, and the skin around his eyes was crinkled in a smile.

A damn smug smile. Dan was determined to wipe that smile off Casey's face and replace it with a look of intense pleasure. Just as soon as he could move.

Casey slid up and placed his head on the pillow next to Dan, dropping a kiss on his lips. "Good morning."

"Hell, yes," Dan responded. Casey laughed again and bent down for a more lingering kiss. Dan pushed his tongue into Casey's mouth, and Casey shoved insistently against Dan, grinding his cock against him.

Casey made a noise in his throat, quiet and extremely turned-on. Dan liked the noise. He liked it a lot. But Dan wanted to hear Casey get a little louder, and it was about time he showed Casey how very good he was at giving head. He sucked on Casey's bottom lip for a minute, then started licking his way down Casey's body. Swiped his tongue down Casey's jaw, over his neck, bit his shoulder.

"Danny," Casey said. His voice was hoarse, almost breathy.

"My turn, Case. Now you get to shut up."

Casey gasped something that sounded like assent as Dan sucked at the place he'd just bitten and trailed a hand down to grasp Casey's cock. A few strokes, and Casey was panting again, much louder this time.

Dan grinned and pushed Casey onto his back, nuzzling his way down Casey's chest. He licked at the crease where Casey's pelvis met his upper thigh. Casey made a guttural sound, and Dan did it again, and then bit gently at the sensitive skin.

"Danny," Casey said again, more urgently.

Dan paused, looking up at Casey. Check. The smile was definitely gone. "Yes, Casey?"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"Would I kid you, Case?" He scratched his hands down Casey's sides and smiled his own little smile when Casey twisted underneath him.

"C'mon, Dan. Don't be a cocktease."

Dan couldn't stop the laugh that burst out of him. "Did you actually just call me a cocktease?"

"I actually just called you a cocktease," Casey groaned. He covered his eyes with a forearm.

"Cocktease," Dan repeated. "Talk dirty to me some more."

Casey's body shook beneath him when he laughed. Dan took pity on him and favored his cock with a slow lick from base to tip.

Casey's body shook at that too. "Oh, fuck, Danny...please..."

Another lick, and then he took a breath and swallowed Casey down as far as he could. Casey cried out, fisting his hands in the sheets.

Dan relaxed his throat and took Casey even deeper, just swallowed him down. He pinned Casey's hips down when Casey lurched and began chanting Dan's name in a broken whisper. Dan kept swallowing, slurping, fingers stroking circles onto the skin of Casey's hips, trying to remember how to breathe. Not really caring if he did.

Casey's hands released the fabric he was clutching and moved to Dan's shoulders, fingers digging into the muscle and wrapping around bone. Dan's head bobbed up and down, playing his tongue around Casey's cock, gripping his hips harder and harder as Casey's movements grew more and more frantic.

"Danny, I'm--" Casey gasped.

Dan sucked Casey's cock back down his throat when he felt him start to come. Casey's fingers dug in hard. If he left bruises, Dan would consider them well-earned. Marks to wear with pride, really.

Casey's chest heaved as he tried to get enough air back into his lungs, his body flushed and sweaty.

On his way back up to the top of the bed, Dan took a moment to lick some of the sweat off Casey's chest, grinning as Casey made a slight protesting noise. By the time he reached the pillow, Casey had slipped into a light doze, and Dan settled in next to him, content to watch him sleep.

***

No one seemed to notice when they walked in together. Not that there was anything to notice. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just two guys, two friends, arriving for work at the same time. No hickeys concealed under this collar, by George. Casey fought down the urge to whistle nonchalantly as they weaved through the bullpen on the way to their office.

Once safely inside, he plopped down in front of the computer with a sigh of relief.

And Danny laughed at him.

"What?" he asked, a little indignantly.

"C'mon, Case. You look like you're expecting to find a sign on your back that says 'Ravished Virgin'."

"Oh, please," Casey said. "I was not a virgin."

Danny leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. "You were a virgin in the ways of gay homosexual loving, my friend."

Casey very carefully controlled the urge to look around to see if anyone had heard. "Don't ever call it that again, Danny."

Danny grinned.

"You're going to torment me about this for the rest of the day, aren't you?"

"Of course," Danny said. "Possibly the rest of your life."

Casey sighed and accepted his fate. "Just try not to bring it up at the noon rundown, okay?"

"You ruin all of my dastardly plans, Casey."

Casey cocked his eyebrow and said, "That's the price you pay for having an uncool partner."

Danny's mouth worked to hold back a grin. "You may not be cool, partner, but you make up for it by being good in bed."

"Who's good in bed?" Natalie asked.

Casey put all of his energy into not looking guilty, praying that Danny would come up with an answer to satisfy Natalie. The Queen of Office Gossip.

They were doomed. He swallowed a groan.

"Roger Rogier."

Natalie, leaning against the doorframe, looked only moderately doubtful. "Roger Rogier?"

"Yeah," Danny replied. "Roger Rogier. Good in bed. I mean, that's what we hear."

"And how exactly did you hear this?"

Casey jumped in. "Sorry, Natalie. A reporter has to keep his sources under wraps."

"Right. And you have sources that tell you Roger Rogier, the new shortstop for the Astros, is good in bed?"

Danny smiled convincingly. "Oh, yeah. A regular firecracker. But we're not planning on doing a story on it, because we do have our standards."

"Who would name a child that?" Casey said. "Charles. Now that's a good, solid name."

"Roger Rogier," Danny said. "That's like... Paul McCall."

"LaVelle Rydell," Casey offered.

Danny turned to Natalie. "Shirley Hurley."

Natalie nodded slowly at Danny and, her expression deadpan, said, "I will know the truth. Oh yes, I will."

"Would you hurt me if I said, 'You can't handle the truth'?" Casey asked.

"Yes," Natalie said. "With extreme prejudice."

Casey whistled. "Okay."

"There's no more truth to know, Shirley," Danny said.

"Don't call me Shirley."

Casey slumped in his chair as Natalie's narrow-eyed stare focused on his partner. Drawing upon some hidden Superman strength, Danny continued to smile blandly in the face of Natalie's discernment.

"I know you, Danny," she said.

Leave it to Natalie to carry kryptonite around.

Danny laced his hands behind his head again. "Can I help it if mysterious sources send me information about the private sex lives of pro baseball players?"

She stared at him for another moment, then pivoted on her heel. "You were warned," she said over her shoulder as she strode out of the office.

Danny shook his head ruefully. "You think she'll head to Dana or Kim first?"

"Definitely Dana," Casey said, watching Natalie's slim back as she stalked through the bullpen.

"Plausible deniability?" Danny asked. He fidgeted with a pencil. "I mean..."

"Yeah. For now," Casey said. He stared until Danny looked up, and then he smiled. A full-out smile that he knew made him look deranged, because Danny had told him so on more than one occasion. Danny's eyes softened.

"We're manly men. Manly men talk about sex all the time," Danny said.

"I'm manlier."

"Is that a word?"

"Does it matter?"

Danny shook his head slowly, never breaking eye contact. "Nah," he said, pursing his lips in a way that made Casey want to trace them with his tongue.

"So when Dana shows up and starts asking questions..."

The smile spread lazily across Danny's face. "We play dumb."

"You're good at playing dumb," Casey said, his insult going over more unevenly than usual because his voice was a little breathy and his eyes were still fixated on Danny's mouth.

"I will not deign to comment on that."

"You just did."

Danny leaned forward in his chair. "Do I have to come over there?"

Casey licked his bottom lip. "Please. By all means."

Danny dropped his forehead to his desk and groaned. "We are so doomed."

***

Really, what surprised Dan that day was how little things changed.

Lustful lapses aside, he and Casey spent the early part of the day in the same familiar groove. Writing the script. Editing tape. Tracking down sources, albeit sources who didn't really know a thing about Roger Rogier's love life, and couldn't be convinced to care.

What frightened him, though, was Natalie. She hadn't said anything more, but every time he'd passed her in the halls, she'd fixed him with that same narrow-eyed gaze, and he got the feeling that his pants might disappear when he least expected it.

The last disappearing pants debacle had been bearable, albeit drafty and vaguely humiliating. Now Dan was worried that the lack of adequate skin coverage might prove to be a little too enlightening to the rest of the crew of the significant changes to Dan and Casey's partnership.

At least neither he nor Casey wore tightie-whities.

Although he could really get behind the idea of Casey in a pair of BVDs...

No. He couldn't afford to let his mind wander there. Especially not in the middle of the rundown.

"Dan," said Dana, "where are we on the Roger Rogier story?"

He could actually feel Casey, sitting next to him, go white. "Excuse me?"

She tapped her pen impatiently. "Don't play dumb. Natalie said you two had a lead on some story involving Roger Rogier."

"Uh..." Natalie smiled at him and batted her eyes. "Natalie must have been... mistaken?"

"Oh, I don't think Natalie was, was Natalie?" Dana said.

"Natalie doesn't think she was, either, " Natalie said. She smirked. Dana smirked. It was a female smirk fest.

"I don't think Roger Rogier's a real name. I mean, what kind of parent would inflict that name on a little kid?" Elliot was saying.

"Not only is he real," Dana said, "We're doing a story on him tonight. Aren't we, boys?"

"Roger Rogier," Elliot muttered.

"Ten-four, good buddy," Chris said.

They were rapidly losing any control over the situation. "Our lead on Roger Rogier is something you'd read in the Weekly World News, Dana," Casey said.

Dana was unmoved. "It's a slow news day."

"Really," insisted Casey. "It's not that slow. Is it, Jeremy?"

"What, do I look stupid?" asked Jeremy. "I'm not getting involved in this. I wash my hands of you two."

"You wash your hands of us?"

"Smart move, sweetie." Natalie beamed encouragingly at Jeremy before returning her steely gaze to Dan and Casey's direction.

Dan glared at Jeremy. Jeremy mouthed, "Pontius Pilate," from across the table.

He pondered for a minute whether he or Casey was supposed to be Jesus, and then decided he must be because Casey wasn't Jewish.

"We'll investigate Roger Rogier further," Casey said.

Dan jumped in with, "But I wouldn't count on it as a feature tonight, Dana."

"Oh, I'm counting on it. Am I not counting on it, Natalie?"

Natalie stood up. "She's counting on it."

Dan sighed. "Thanks a lot, Shirley."

"You're quite welcome, Daniel, and don't call me Shirley. Back at six, unless Dan and Casey need to brief us on Roger Rogier before then."

Dan and Casey remained seated as everyone else filed out of the room. "Well, I hope you're happy," said Casey.

"Actually," said Dan, "I think I am." He reached out a covert hand and laid it on Casey's knee. Casey flushed.

"You know what I mean. We have to come up with a story on Roger Rogier, and spring training's barely started."

Dan squeezed Casey's knee. "Why don't you talk to her?"

"And what good could that possibly do?"

Dan closed his eyes and counted backwards from five. Casey's ineptitude with women pleased him on some wholly selfish level, but overall, it tended to cause a marked disadvantage when Dana and Natalie plotted against them. "Dana thinks we're hiding something."

"But we are hiding something."

"Yes," Dan said slowly. "But by going to her and volunteering to talk, you will allay her suspicions."

"And by allaying her suspicions, we won't have to broadcast our sex life to the entire production staff of Sports Night?"

"Exactly."

"I don't get it. I'll do it, but I don't get it."

Dan knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help himself. "What don't you get?"

"Why don't you go talk to her, since this is your plan?"

"Because she'll think I'm lying to her."

"But when I lie to her," Casey said, "she'll believe me?"

"If you do it right, yes."

"What am I supposed to tell her?"

Dan pushed back his chair and stood up. "At this point, I honestly don't care. But extra points if it has something to do with Roger Rogier."

***

Casey rapped his knuckles against Dana's open office door. She looked up from her desk over the rims of her reading glasses. He still didn't have any clue why he was here, but he suspected that if he didn't do as Danny said, he'd not only be embarrassed on national television, but he also might be denied sex.

Casey thought about it for a moment, and realized that Danny would probably never deny him sex, because despite his frequent accusations to the contrary, Danny was very much a guy. The thought made him smile.

Dana's expression turned inquisitive. "You seem very chipper this morning."

"I'm a morning person," Casey replied. "Morning people are chipper."

"Maybe," she said. "But you're usually not this chipper. What's up?"

"Nothing," he said, trying out a little shrug.

"Right. Which is why you and Dan have somehow already managed to piss Natalie off. And, might I add, that's not a very good idea. You know she'll punish you."

Casey winced and decided to sit down. "Natalie's an incurable gossip."

"I know." Dana absently scribbled a note on her legal pad. "But since she tells me what she finds out, I try to encourage that trait in her."

"Ah, if only I enjoyed the bounteous wealth of the Natalie grapevine."

"Fat chance, " Dana said. "She's mine."

Cased paused, and then said, "About Roger Rogier."

"What about Roger Rogier?"

Casey leaned forward and put his palms down on Dana's desk, suddenly struck with a Dan-esque bit of inspiration.

Danny was going to kill him.

"Here's the deal."

"Oh," Dana mocked. "There's a deal."

"One of Danny's ex-girlfriends slept with Roger Rogier," Casey said.

"And?"

"And," Casey said, "that's it. We were joking around about Roger Rogier's bedroom prowess because Danny's manhood felt threatened, and Natalie interrupted us."

"Which ex-girlfriend?" Dana said suddenly.

"Uh..." Damnit, he needed a name. Any name. "Jamie."

"Jamie," Dana repeated. "Dan's ex-girlfriend Jamie."

"Right," he agreed, hoping she wouldn't press him for more details.

"So tell me about this Jamie."

"Well, there's not much to tell," Casey hedged. "You know Danny. He goes through girlfriends like Charlie goes through shoes."

Dana made her, 'I'm waiting,' face.

"You know, she's tall," Casey said. "And blonde. And buxom."

"Buxom?"

"Would you rather I said, 'she has bodacious ta-tas'?"

"Point taken," Dana said. "Continue."

"They really didn't date for very long, Dana. I don't know all that much about her."

"But you somehow know that she slept with Roger Rogier," Dana said. "Through some mysterious source who I am refraining from calling 'Deep Throat'."

Casey choked on his laugh. "Uh, yes. Right. And so you can see how Danny might be sensitive about this, so I'll just go back to writing my script, and we can all drop it."

Dana narrowed her eyes as Casey stood up and backed out of her office. "All right. All right, go back to your script. But there's something rotten in Denmark, Casey."

"Rotten?" Casey blurted, pausing at the door. "Nothing is rotten. There is no rottonness here."

Dana tapped a pen on the rim of her coffee mug. "Oh, something's rotten all right, Casey McCall."

Casey nodded. "I'll just go now. To do my job. Which, I might add, is sports broadcasting, not hack reporting for the National Enquirer."

"Rotten!" Dana yelled. Casey just kept walking.

***

"Your logic baffles me," Jeremy said.

"We're men, Jeremy," Dan insisted. He gestured wildly. "We need no logic."

"I repeat: your logic baffles me."

Out of the corner of his eye, Dan saw Kim emerge from the elevator; he flinched. "Just hide me, Jeremy."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"I can pay."

"No."

"I'll get you whatever you want."

Jeremy lifted his eyebrows. "Right now, what I want is for Natalie to be happy. In order for Natalie to be happy, you must be available for more torment."

Dan put his hands on Jeremy's shoulders and squeezed. "You disappoint me, young Jedi."

"Invoking the geek faith will get you nowhere, Dan."

Dan dropped his hands and turned around, stifling an unmanly shriek when he discovered Natalie and Kim standing just behind him.

"Hello, Kim," he said cautiously.

"Hello, Dan," Kim purred.

"You're looking lovely today, Shirley."

"Don't call me Shirley," Natalie said.

"He looks like a deer in headlights," Kim laughed.

Natalie was nodding. "I can smell the fear from here."

"Run while you still can," Jeremy advised behind him.

"Why should I run?" Dan said. "I have nothing to hide."

Kim arched a thin eyebrow. Natalie just laughed. Dan felt his reuben sandwich from lunch curdle in his stomach. Kim and Natalie backed him into Jeremy's desk. Kim reached out with her painted fingernails and plucked a piece of lint from Dan's T-shirt.

"Come on, Dan," Kim said. "Whisper it to me. I won't tell a soul."

"Pull the other one," Dan said. And when Kim's hand quickly migrated to more southern regions, he yelped, "Hey!"

"You know you want to let me in on what you're hiding, Dan," she said.

Dan flashed on a mental image of Kim in bed with him and Casey, and it was hot for a minute before he got jealous of Kim touching Casey. And even then, it was still pretty hot.

"I am hiding nothing. I am an open book. I am naked before you," Dan said.

"I think that's my cue to leave," Jeremy said. He walked away from his desk. After five feet, he came back to drag Natalie behind him.

"But I wanted to watch!" Natalie protested.

"Why don't you keep your pants on," Kim said. Her eyes flickered down to Dan's crotch. She grinned and walked into the studio.

Dan warily watched her leave, then turned back toward his office.

Casey stood in their office doorway, trying not to smile.

***

The door opened, and Dana poked her head inside their office.

"I'm dropping the Roger Rogier segment," she said.

"You're dropping the segment?" Danny asked.

"I am, I said."

"Good," Casey said, although he'd never really believed Dana would force them to follow through on it. Especially since such a segment didn't actually exist.

Dana smiled. "We wouldn't want to insult Dan's manhood in front of millions of viewers, after all. Oh, and I need you to cut ten seconds out of the Notre Dame piece."

"We can do that," Casey said.

Dana's smile widened, and she ducked back out.

"My manhood?" Danny glared.

"It's a funny story, really," Casey said.

"We don't have time. You will tell me later."

"Of course I will. Those are your ten seconds, remember?"

"Right." Casey watched Danny make a mental note.

"And Syracuse is leading Georgetown by 20 at the half, so we might have to cut away to that in the 50's."

"Gotcha."

"And after the show, I want you to fuck me."

He could see the moment when the comment registered. Danny nearly gave himself whiplash lifting his head from his copy.

"You. What?"

"You heard me."

Danny blinked rapidly, his mouth working. When he finally spoke, his voice was strangled. "Um. Okay."

"Don't sound so eager, Dan."

"I... it's just... you couldn't think of a better time to tell me this? We're supposed to go on the air in ten minutes."

"Nine minutes, thirty seconds."

"And I'm supposed to be coherent on the air. Witty and erudite."

Casey felt himself blushing. "It's taken me most of the day to work up the nerve to tell you. You could actually show some enthusiasm, you know."

Danny closed his eyes, his lower lip curling over his bottom teeth. He grimaced for a moment, hands flat on his desk. When his eyes opened again, Casey was suddenly glad that he was already sitting down.

"It's taking everything I've got, Casey," Danny murmured quietly and evenly, "not to strip you naked and fuck you against our very transparent office door."

"Okay," Casey rasped, very aware of the little space that separated them. "That counts as enthusiasm. Full credit. High marks."

"Really?" Danny said. "I was aiming more for the honor roll." His eyes were glittering, and Casey wondered if this really had been the best time to bring up what he'd spent all day thinking about. Because Danny was right. Dana and the rest of the crew and a few million viewers expected them on the air in a little less than nine minutes. And neither one of them were really in any condition to walk, let alone stare at each other across a desk for an hour. With a live television audience.

Casey made a mental note to work on his timing.

"Think of something disgusting," he said. "Quickly."

Danny stood up. "I've got a better idea. Button your jacket and follow me."

Casey found himself moving before he could ask, "Where are we going?"

"Shut up," Danny ground out, "and follow me."

Casey shut up and followed, taking a moment to enjoy Danny's obvious discomfort. He hadn't really doubted that Danny would want him, but it was certainly nice to have it confirmed so clearly.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost ran into Danny as he paused to wrench open the door to the men's bathroom. The thankfully deserted bathroom. Danny grabbed his sleeve, yanked him inside, and shoved him up against the wall.

"Danny..." he began, only to be cut off when Danny leaned in and took Casey's lower lip between his teeth. Danny bit gently, then slicked his tongue into Casey's mouth. Casey opened wide for him, his hands clenching at the lapels on Danny's suit.

Wardrobe was going to kill them.

Casey couldn't quite bring himself to care.

"Make this quick," Danny was murmuring. "You ready?"

Casey tried to bring Danny's mouth back into contact with his own. "Ready for what?"

But he couldn't reach Danny's mouth, because Danny had dropped to his knees. Danny's hands were busy and astonishingly fast, because all of a sudden, Casey's pants were around his knees and Danny's mouth was on his cock.

Jesus Christ. All thoughts of the show and propriety and the fact that Kim's voice was booming over the intercom calling the first team to studio fled from his addled mind, because all he could think was "good good good so good."

Danny's mouth was hot, and he was sucking hard, without finesse, hands working. His eyes were closed and his mouth stretched wide, and Casey would swear that Danny was almost humming.

"Oh, God," Casey grunted.

He seemed to be calling on Christian deities a lot since last night.

That morning, Danny had spent a long and leisurely time tormenting him. But Casey was rapidly growing very fond of determined Danny. Danny ruthlessly rubbed the flat of his tongue right across that spot, and Casey shoved forward into Danny's mouth, and Danny took it all, working his throat and moving his hands.

He was definitely humming.

Somehow, Danny sucked harder, and Casey could feel himself starting to come.

If he thought about it, coming would be a very good thing, because they needed to be in the studio five minutes ago. And coming, in itself, was usually a highly enjoyable experience.

But Casey just didn't want to leave Danny's mouth.

He buried his fingers in Danny's short hair and pulled Danny closer, feeling his toes curling in his shoes.

Jesus.

Danny rubbed his tongue across the spot one more time, and his body took the choice right out of his hands. The pleasure sparked through him, as insistent as Danny had been, but he remembered to close his mouth before letting out a yell that would have echoed through the acoustically perfect bathroom.

Danny, clearly possessed by the devil, licked him clean and stuffed him back into his clothes. "I think we have a show to do, Casey."

"You. But." Casey pointedly looked down at the bulge in Danny's pants.

Danny grinned. His lips were swollen. "We worry about me later, Case. Right now, there are about five million sports fans expecting to see us at our anchor desk."

Casey remained slumped against the door while Danny bent down to rinse his mouth out in the bathroom sink. Or, rather, Casey watched Danny's ass.

Then he closed his eyes. The entire purpose of this exercise had been to calm him down.

Well, maybe not the entire purpose. He felt the stupid grin spreading across his face--the one he hated, because it made him look goofy and not-too-bright. But he honestly didn't care. He didn't care that Allison would look at Danny funny when he sat down on his chair and she noticed his slightly swollen lips.

Because he had a plan. He was a man with a plan. And the plan involved him getting fucked by Danny, as soon as possible after the show.

He opened his eyes to see Danny standing in front of him, head cocked, hands in his pockets. And smirking.

Casey made it a point to walk in front of Danny on the way to the studio. He sat down in his chair and shuffled his copy.

"I know what you're doing," Danny said.

Casey looked up. "What am I doing?"

"You're trying to distract me."

"I'm trying to distract you?"

"You're trying to distract me, my man. But you can't, because I am in the zone."

The conversation was cut short as various crew members arrived to straighten their hair and mic them and double-check the lighting. And then Dana's sarcastic voice came through loud and clear through the earpieces.

"Nice of you gentlemen to join us. Should I even ask what the delay was?"

Casey glanced furtively at Danny, who appeared to be stifling his laughter. "Uh, probably not, Dana."

She sighed in his ear, the long-suffering sigh that meant she was pretending to be exasperated, and then VTR was rolling.

"I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell. Those stories, plus..."

***

"You've been watching Sports Night on CSC. Good night," Casey said.

With much relish, Dan leaned forward and said, "Good night, everyone."

He waited to hear, "Cue animation...and we're out," before he fumbled with his mic and stood, hovering over Casey's shoulder.

Casey leaned his head back until it was almost touching Dan's stomach. "What?"

Dan tucked his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't strangle his best friend. "Transparent office doors, Casey."

It was amazing how fast the blush spread across Casey's face. "Right," he said, sitting up abruptly. "We should go."

Dan nodded. "We should definitely go."

"Definitely." Casey pulled his mic off with a sharp motion and stood up, almost knocking Dan over in his haste. "So let's go."

Dan thought about teasing Casey about his eagerness for exactly half a second, but he didn't want to interfere with their outward momentum. That, and he had been half-hard for the last hour. "I think we're going."

They herded each other out of the studio. Jeremy made a beeline for them in the hallway, and Dan desperately tried to veer around him. Jeremy zagged right along with his zig and planted himself firmly in front of the two of them. "About the feature for tomorrow..."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow, Jeremy," Dan said, trying to keep calm, while his body clamored for him to shove Jeremy the hell out of the way.

"But the Celtics..."

Casey leaned in close. "Tomorrow, Jeremy."

Jeremy's eyes narrowed behind his glasses, and he looked first at Casey, then at Dan. "Right. So we should do this tomorrow."

"Right." They spoke in unison, and Dan realized that they really had to get out of the damn studio soon. Before he started shrieking like a woman.

Jeremy hugged his clipboard to his chest and stepped aside. "Right. I'll just. Go, then."

"You do that," Dan said, tugging at Casey's arm to get them moving again. He led the charge through the newsroom and into their open office door. Dan came to an abrupt stop in front of his messy desk and made an executive decision to simply turn off his damned computer and call it good. When he looked up, Casey was standing in the middle of the room with a death-grip on both their coats.

The white knuckles bothered him a bit, and he looked closely at Casey. "You still want to do this, right?"

"Yes. Definitely." He sounded sure, if a little breathless.

"Then let's go." Dan took one step forward, but Casey's hand shot out and planted itself on his chest.

"Wait."

"Wait?"

Casey blushed again. Dan smiled despite himself, because he just looked so darn cute when he did that. "I don't mean 'wait'," Casey said.

"Funny, because I'm pretty sure that's what you said."

"No, I mean..." he trailed off, looking embarrassed. "Don't we need...stuff?"

"Stuff," Dan repeated. He watched with fascination as Casey's face stayed red. And then he had an epiphany. He'd looked through Casey's medicine cabinet. He knew what wasn't there. "Stuff," Dan said quickly. "We can stop. On the way. To your place."

"My place." Casey looked a little less twitchy.

Dan nodded. "Your place."

"Yeah. My place is good."

"Good."

Casey swallowed nervously, and Dan battled down the urge to lean in and set his teeth against the side of that long neck. Casey's cologne was the first thing that had registered this morning, when he'd finally been able to notice anything other than Casey's mouth. Dan found himself swaying forward on his toes and jerked back.

"We should go now," Dan said.

"We really should." Casey's eyes darted to the newsroom.

Dan tugged his coat free from Casey's grip and walked out of their office, trusting that Casey would follow.

The ride down the elevator seemed endless. "Security cameras," Dan's good sense kept chanting. "Security cameras. Tabloid footage. Ruined careers. Security cameras." Even with that mental soundtrack, the doors opened about two seconds before he wrote his career off and slammed Casey against the wall.

Casey apparently felt the same way, as he shot Dan an incendiary look before taking off in the direction of the car.

At least Casey was wearing a long coat, so Dan wouldn't have to be taunted by watching Casey walk in front of him. Dress pants did a lot for Casey's ass. Not that Dan thought Casey's ass needed any help.

Dan felt another rush of awed lust sweep over him, and froze with one hand on the car door.

"Get in, Dan," Casey said.

Dan looked at him over the top of the car and smiled.

They rode mostly in silence, letting the lights play across their faces with the sounds of Manhattan traffic in the background. Dan kept sneaking glances at Casey when he wasn't looking, until Casey looked at him and growled, "Cut that out." Dan refused to be ashamed, though, because he was still riding the high. The high that had really started the night before, when Casey licked his neck, and had led them here, to an all-night convenience store.

"So," Dan said. "Who's going in?"

Casey's eyes widened. "I'm not going in."

Dan couldn't stifle the laugh. "Why not?"

"I-don't-know-what-to-get," Casey muttered.

"You," Dan said, when he translated Casey's sentence, "are a big fraidy cat."

"Does anyone say 'fraidy cat' anymore?" Casey demanded.

"I just did."

"You aren't getting much blood flow to your brain," Casey said. His gaze dropped to Dan's lap.

Dan shivered. "I'll go in."

The harsh fluorescent light hurt his eyes after the dim comfort of the car. He squinted as he grabbed a tube of AstroGlide, thought about it, and grabbed a box of condoms just in case.

When he plopped back into his seat, Casey smiled at him, a brief flash of teeth. "Good thing you're not a fraidy cat."

"Don't say I never do anything for you."

"I won't, as long as you stop using double negatives."

"Don't expect me to use proper grammar right now, Casey."

Casey chuckled, and Dan gripped the steering wheel tighter, the bag of supplies propped between his thighs. "Home, Jeeves," Dan said.

***

The door shut behind Danny, and Casey barely stopped himself from flinching at the sound. The familiar confines of his apartment didn't look so familiar anymore.

Casey was having a minor freak-out. Not a change of heart, just...nerves. Tension. And the electricity humming between him and Danny wasn't helping matters any. Casey couldn't decide whether he'd rather plaster Danny against the door or put a safe distance between them.

Behind him, Danny's voice was quiet. "You okay, man?"

He turned around too quickly and saw Danny drop the little bag onto the floor. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Danny shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the door. "We don't have to do this."

Casey didn't like the worried look in Dan's eyes. "Will you stop saying that? I want this, Danny. I really do. It's just new, okay?" He stepped forward and leaned in for a kiss.

There was the electricity again, leaping to life as Danny sighed into his lips and pushed his tongue urgently against Casey's.

Danny's mouth was familiar, but still different and strange. Wide, strong and wet, sucking and licking. And Danny was kissing him with everything he had. He could tell that Danny wasn't thinking about anyone else, anything else. Not composing to-do lists in his head. Not faking orgasms. Not using him to climb some social ladder.

Casey groaned and leaned in closer. Danny's full, undivided attention was a newly discovered turn-on.

And Casey had it right now.

He gave in to his earlier impulse and flattened himself against Danny, his hands braced on the door behind him. Full body contact. Always a good thing. Almost as good as Danny's urgent kisses. Not quite as good as the press of Danny's hips against his.

Danny's hands were free and roaming, sliding up Casey's spine under his coat. He pulled back for air and said, "Hey, Case. You're not going to run away if take this off you, right?" Danny's hands slid out and tugged at his lapels.

"No," Casey said. "Uh, go for it."

And go for it Danny did, sliding Casey's coat from his shoulders, slipping his hands underneath Casey's suit jacket to rub up and down his back. "You feel good," Danny murmured into the side of his neck.

"Yeah," was all Casey could think to say, burrowing closer to press against Danny's warmth. Now that he had touched Danny, Casey was feeling almost clingy. As long as he touched Danny, he wouldn't crack into a million pieces. A million pieces of self that didn't seem very familiar, since the idea of getting fucked hadn't really entered his mind much in the past thirtysome years.

He'd spent the past day exploring all kinds of new territory with Dan, but it wasn't the unfamiliarity that scared him. The fact that Casey wanted it, wanted it so badly that he could feel it in his bones, disturbed him the most.

Casey pulled away, grabbing for Danny's hand. "C'mon. Bedroom." He needed to lie down and pretend that the weakness in his knees was just from lust. There was a slight tug on his hand as Danny reached down to grab the bag of supplies from the floor.

Danny let himself be pulled along through the darkened apartment, his fingers gently tickling Casey's palm. They reached the darker bedroom, and Casey sank gratefully onto the bed, reaching to pull Danny on top of him.

This time, Danny refused to be pulled. "You're freaking out, aren't you?"

"No," Casey lied. He peered up at Danny, trying to look confident.

"No?" Danny said. He stepped between Casey's spread knees, moving his hands to rest on Casey's shoulders.

"No."

"How long have I known you, Casey?"

"Um..."

"A long time," Danny prodded.

"A long time."

"Given the fact that I've known you for a long time, and given the additional facts that I'm neither stupid nor blind, why are you lying to me?"

Casey sighed quietly. "Because I'm freaking?"

"Because you're freaking." Danny slid his hands through Casey's hair and gently tilted his face up. "Why are you freaking, Casey? Are you afraid it'll hurt?"

"No," Casey said. He repeated himself when he realized it was true. "No. You liked it, right?"

Danny grinned then, a wide, genuine grin that promised sex. "Oh, yeah. I like it. I like it a lot." Then, "So what is it?"

He took a deep breath, let the air fill his lungs with a welcome pressure. "I want it."

"That's. That's good. You want it. That's really good, Case. Again, I repeat, what is it?"

"That is the problem."

Danny narrowed his eyes and cocked his head. It was his thinking pose. "That's the problem? You wanting to have sex with me is the problem?"

Shit, Casey thought. He struggled to find the right way to convey what he was feeling without hurting Danny. "It scares me, Danny. I don't feel like I know who I am any more. Since when do I blow you in the middle of our office? And no, before you start protesting, of course that's not a bad thing, but it's a lot to get used to."

"And you're still getting used to that when you suddenly realize that you want to be on the bottom."

Casey's eyes flickered closed in relief. Danny understood.

He felt warm when Danny took the last step forward and pressed into him. Casey wrapped his arms around Danny's waist. Someday, he'd regret the fact that Danny could practically read his mind.

But not today.

"I've got you," Danny murmured into his hair. "Do you trust me, Casey?"

And just like that, the decision was made. Had been made all along. Casey'd just needed Danny to point out the obvious. Score another point for the mind-reader.

"Yes," he said. "I trust you."

"Good. I want you to remember that, okay?"

Casey nodded solemnly, turning his face and breathing in Danny's scent. He nuzzled his stomach, wanting, needing to feel Danny's skin again. Leaning back, he untucked Danny's shirt and leaned in to kiss his stomach, which moved under his lips as Danny chuckled.

"Isn't this how we started the day?"

"Is that a complaint?"

Danny groaned when Casey tongued his navel. "No. No complaining here. You can do that any time you want."

"Even while you're on the air?"

Danny grinned and began unbuttoning his shirt. "Case, we're on cable, yes, but not Showtime. Until you decide our careers would be better served on a gay porn subscription channel, I think you know the answer."

"I think I can handle that," Casey said, pushing Danny's hands aside.

************

Dan gazed down at Casey, with what he suspected was a pretty goofy expression. He couldn't help it, not when Casey's six feet-plus was stretched out on the bed in front of him. His own private buffet of naked Casey McCall. Casey's barely-concealed fear had been replaced by... anticipation. Longing.

"Are you sure you haven't done this before?"

"I think I'd remember." Casey slid further down the bed, closer to Dan, and hitched his hips invitingly. "Come on."

Dan slicked up a finger and slid it into him, gently, caressingly, mesmerized by the emotions flickering across Casey's face. Casey moaned quietly and squeezed his finger.

"You are so fucking beautiful," Dan whispered huskily.

Casey smiled up at him in response, a lazy smile that felt like a punch to Dan's stomach.

"You are, you know." It was important for him to say it, for Casey to believe it. To believe everything.

"Sweet talker."

In response, Dan slipped a second finger inside and leaned down to kiss Casey. And he tried to pour everything he felt into that kiss, to let Casey know that he meant it, meant all of it. He stroked his tongue urgently against Casey's, pulled Casey's lower lip into his mouth, dropped down to his throat and sucked until Casey bucked up underneath him.

When he pulled back, Casey was panting and looking a little wild-eyed. "Please," he whispered.

Dan tried to reach for his willpower, but all he found was desire, packed into every corner of him. And when Casey thrust down onto his fingers and spread his legs wider, Dan was lost.

"Okay, okay, okay..." He was babbling, but he didn't care. Didn't care about anything other than getting inside Casey, pushing inside of him further and further until all they could do was feel.

He tried to move slow, but it was so difficult, with Casey urging him on and spikes of pleasure running up his cock and spreading through his whole body.

The first stroke felt like life and death, all wrapped up into one, as the sheer magnitude of what they were doing hit him. Judging from the look of astonishment on Casey's face, he felt it too. He reached out blindly, wrapped his fingers around Casey's arms, and tried to breathe through the vise-grip Casey had on his cock.

"You okay?" he managed to get out.

"Oh, hell, yeah," Casey gasped.

"Good," Dan mumbled. So fucking good, he had to push back in again and again.

Under his hands, Casey's skin was hot and smooth, resilient muscle firm to the touch. He leaned in closer, shifted his hips a little, and suddenly they were lined up in a whole new way. Casey's gasping breaths suddenly got deeper and shakier, and his cock was hard against Dan's belly. He wanted to reach down and wrap his fingers around it, but before he could complete the thought, Casey's hand was there, jacking himself slowly in time with their joint thrusts.

He looked up, and Casey's eyes were fixed on his face, his gaze so intense that it made Dan a little uncomfortable. He had to close his eyes, but that prompted Casey to say, "What's wrong?"

He pried his eyes open. "Nothing, Case. Nothing's wrong."

The thrusts came harder after that, as if he had no control over what his body was doing. Casey wasn't complaining, though. In fact, Casey was muttering a constant stream of encouragement, the words pouring out of him.

"God, Danny, you feel so fucking good. Jesus, there...harder...harder..."

He wanted it to last forever. He was fully prepared to stay in this position forever, breathing in Casey's mixed endearments and obscenities, watching Casey's hand move more and more frantically on his cock, feeling Casey's body flex around him.

He pried a hand off Casey's arm and wrapped it around his moving hand, threading his fingers in with Casey's longer ones, feeling the slick skin of his cock slide underneath them.

A guttural sound ripped itself from Casey's chest, and he pushed up into their combined grip. Dan shoved himself as far inside Casey as he could go, and Casey cried out again, wordlessly, shaking a little as he came.

Dan gritted his teeth, panting shallowly, determined to watch Casey finish. And it was worth it, to see Casey's face crease into a grimace between pain and ecstasy, before relaxing into an utterly satiated smile. Dan continued pumping until Casey remembered that Dan hadn't finished. Then satiation turned to desire and something that looked a lot like love.

But somehow, Dan was still utterly shocked when Casey reached up a gentle hand, ran it down the center of his chest, and murmured, "I love you."

Dan had to close his eyes again as he shoved deep into Casey, shudders shaking both of them and rippling straight down to his cock. And coming inside Casey was like coming home, like every fear he'd ever had was wiped out in the knowledge that the one person that mattered loved him.

And he knew those were disgustingly sappy, unmanly thoughts, but Dan couldn't quite bring himself to care when he had a hot, sweaty Casey looking at him like that. Besides, sappy didn't exclude true.

He collapsed onto Casey, and as Casey's arms came around him, he whispered, "I love you, too."

He felt the chuckle before Casey spoke. "Of course you do, LaVelle."

"Shut up, Paul."

"Roger roger."


End file.
